The petition of residents of Queensland draws to the attention of the House that:

·         Twelve Confucius Institutes have been established in university campuses in Australia, and ten Confucius Institutes are being trialled in schools in Victoria and NSW.

·         Confucius Institutes will be introduced in at least four Queensland schools in 2012 through Education Queensland.

·         The Confucius Classrooms cooperate closely with the Chinese Communist Party through Hanban, a powerful office linked to China’s Ministry of Education.

·         The Confucius Classrooms will engage in “propaganda by omission” by not encouraging discussion of any “sensitive” topics, such as Tibet, Taiwan, Falun Gong or the Tiananmen Square massacre. Any such discussion, if it arises, would likely favour the Chinese Communist Party’s perspective.

·         What our teachers teach our children and what values are upheld in Queensland schools should not be influenced by foreign governments.

·         The teaching of Chinese language and culture is welcome in Queensland schools but should be free from the influence of Chinese Communist Party doctrine and censorship.

Your petitioners therefore request the House to:

1.   Act to prevent the establishment of Confucius Classrooms in Queensland schools.

2.   Ensure the Chinese syllabus for Queensland schools does not support the Chinese Communist Party’s “propaganda by omission” by ignoring topics censored by the CCP or by teaching only the CCP Perspective.